Converting True Dragons

[Shade]

Then we can call this one done and move on to the Swamp Dragon.

I'll add the rainbow dragon to the CC with the next batch of 10 (which is nearly ready).

 

[freyar]

Well, if you like unusual breath weapons, the marsh/swamp dragon is for you! A few issues with this one that I notice right away: reflex or fort save to avoid damage and infection? I'd say reflex, since the idea is that the breath is just incredibly infectious. Next, the disease inflicted is supposed to be random (but only curable by a higher level cleric). I'd make a new disease called marsh dragon fever (curable only by certain spells or SLAs) with probably a hefty amount of Con damage per day. Then the disease is supposed to be so infectious that exposure to the breath itself causes hp damage immediately. Seems easy enough to do, I guess. Just my cp on this.

I'd guess the spit should be a ranged touch attack. Also, this dragon should have a slow caster level progression.

 

[Shade]

Compared to 1E dragons (since it's from 1984), it looks comparable to a white dragon in size and Hit Dice.

 

[freyar]

Compared to 1E dragons (since it's from 1984), it looks comparable to a white dragon in size and Hit Dice.

Sounds like a place to start. One of these days, I'll look through the diseases and see what I come up with.

 

[freyar]

I'll take a crack at some of these special abilities:

Spit (Ex): Once per day, a marsh dragon can spit at one creature as a ranged touch attack. A successful spit attack deals 1d6 points of acid damage (Fort/Ref save DCx for half ?) and infects the target with marsh fever (no save because the spit is highly infectious).

Breath Weapon: The marsh dragon's breath weapon is a cone of infectious vapor. A creature caught in the area of the breath takes the hit point damage indicated due to sudden exposure to numerous pathogens (Ref save half). In addition, it must make a Fort save or contract marsh fever.

Marsh Fever: This is a supernatural inhaled disease with a 1 day incubation period which always originates from a marsh dragon. Each day, the victim must make a Fort save (of the same DC as the dragon's breath weapon) or take 1d6 hit points of damage per age category of the originating dragon. This disease can be cured only by the spells remove disease, heal, or mass heal. The caster must succeed at a caster level check with DC equal to 10 + the originating dragon's age category.

I thought about making this contagious, but maybe that would be too devastating if an explorer happened to come by after getting infected. Anyway, the original mechanics seemed a bit clunky, but I tried to keep the spirit of it.

 

[Shade]

Lookin' good so far. I'll try to get a Homebrews started for this fella later today.

 

[freyar]

Other than the disease, etc, is there anything unusual about this one? I'd give it abilities and spell casting basically like a white dragon. Not sure how many SLAs this should have, but things like contagion spring rapidly to mind.

 

[Shade]

I've got some preliminary stats (based off the white dragon) going in Homebrews.

 

[freyar]

Looks like a good start, but I wonder if these should have a swim speed. Just a thought. I'll think about SLAs a little more, too.

 

[RavinRay]

Yeah, needs a swim speed too. They allegedly have a yugoloth heritage. Any general yugoloth abilities we can use for them? I'd use turbidity from Stormwrack as an (Sp), if only it were in the SRD. I don't want to use darkness as the black dragon already has it. It is said to have a warty hide - does this mean it has slightly lower Cha scores, or perhaps it serves as a bonus to the frightful presence?

Speaking of the black dragon, I'd guess these two are rivals and enemies and attack one another on sight.